


Ne Zori, Zoro

by Rusinka



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Music RPF, Real Person Fiction, Скопје Фест | Skopje Fest RPF
Genre: Dictatorship, Dictatorships, ESC, Eurovision, Gen, Macedonia, Skopje Fest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-06-27 09:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15682635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rusinka/pseuds/Rusinka
Summary: The virus had destroyed the very foundations of the nation. Now without a government, Macedonia was left without any real leadership. The chaos that ensued was probably how Vlado Janevski became the new ruler of Macedonia.





	1. Chapter 1

Daniel Kajmakoski was walking through a park in Skopje, Macedonia. The trees waved slightly in the breeze, and birds soared in the sky. It was beautiful this time of year. I'm fact, it was beautiful all year round, but it looked especially good in the spring.  
"Daniel!" came a voice from behind him. Daniel turned around to find Jana Burčeska standing there, beaming at him. That was a surprise.  
"Jana," Daniel said, "I didn't expect to see you here."  
"Yeah, I didn't expect to run into you either," Jana said, "So, how have things been for you?"  
"Oh you know, the usual," Daniel said, "How about you? All good, I hope."  
"Yeah, everything's been fine for me too," Jana smiled.  
The final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest had happened just the day before, and so the conversation quickly turned to the competition, and of course, to Macedonia's result in it. Macedonia didn't typically get good results in the contest, and this year was no exception. It had been another non-qualification for the Balkan nation. That didn't surprise anyone. Still, it didn't matter much. MRT were certainly not quitters, and every year they would enter Macedonia into the competition. Again. And again. One day, they hoped that their persistence would pay off, but until then they wouldn't be too hard on themselves for their many non-qualifications. After all, they could always try again next year. And the next year. And the next.  
"Eye Cue didn't get a great result in their semi," Jana said, "But that's ok. They did a great job representing us. I'm proud of them anyway."  
"Same," Daniel said, "Non-qualification isn't the end of the world. We both know that."  
They looked around, people were walking along the streets, children were playing happily. Everyone seemed happy and peaceful. Sure, there were problems. Macedonia wasn't perfect, but no country was. Everywhere has problems. But right now, everything seemed fine.  
It was the 13th of May, 2018, the day after the Eurovision final, when the virus hit Macedonia. But they didn't know it yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Gjoko Taneski was sitting at the side of the lake, looking across the water. He needed some time to think, but everything that was going on in the country lately was too distracting. There were rumours spreading throughout Macedonia of a mysterious illness, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the constant ambulance sirens. Gjoko sighed as he tried to put that out of his mind for now. At that moment, his friends Pejcin and Billy Zver walked over to him. There were reminders everywhere that something was very strange in Macedonia right now. Looking out across Lake Ohrid, it was very clear that something was wrong. Seagulls were everywhere, perched on the trees, sitting on the ground, floating in the lake, bobbing up and down. There wouldn't be any fishing here for a while, that was sure. A white mass of seagulls covered nearly the entire lake.  
"This isn't right," Gjoko said, "There's usually not so many of these here. I don't understand."  
"There could be a storm coming," Pejcin suggested.  
"There could be," Gjoko replied, "But even so, it's never been like this before, and we've had some pretty bad storms in the past."  
"It could be something to do with that illness that's been spreading," Billy said.  
"It could be," Gjoko said, "But as far as I know that doesn't affect animals."  
They heard the sirens of an ambulance in the distance. It was becoming a very familiar sound indeed.  
"Another one," Pejcin sighed.  
"That's the seventh one today," Gjoko said, "What do we even know about the virus?"  
Whether the illness was actually a virus or not, no one really knew, but somehow it had aquired the nickname 'the virus.'  
"Not much," Billy said, "Just that it's not good to get it. From everything I've heard, it's not a good way to go."  
"Everyone who gets it is younger though," Pejcin said, "But no one knows why that is, either."  
"That's weird," Gjoko said, "I hope they find a cure for it soon."  
The three of them sat at the edge of the lake for a while.  
"It may seem bad right now," Pejcin says, "But it's worse over in Skopje. Here in Ohrid, things are a little better. We have that at least."  
Gjoko looked down at the water. It wasn't really much of a comfort, to be told that other people have it worse. But whatever was happening right now, there was nothing that the three of them could do about it. All they could hope for was that the virus would stop soon, that a cure would be found or that it would just fade away naturally. But things were becoming more and more worrying in Macedonia each day.


	3. Chapter 3

Risto Samardžiev looked down at his laptop. He was sitting in an internet cafe, and Vlatko Ilievski was sitting there at the table with him. They were supposed to be discussing making some new music together, but they hadn't talked about that much. They were thinking too much about other things. Risto was busy on his laptop. He was looking at the Kajgana forum, the largest web forum in all of Macedonia. Everyone was talking about one thing and only one thing. The virus. It was the one thing on everyone's minds.  
"What are you looking at?" Vlatko asked.  
"The Kajgana forum. Looks like there's some sort of illness going around. Everyone's talking about it," Risto said, still peering down at his laptop screen.  
"Yeah, that's the virus," Vlatko said, "It hasn't been good. What are they saying about it?"  
Risto scrolled through yet more pages. Everyone seemed to have their own theory about it, all wildly different. Some blamed it on an American government project gone wrong, others thought it was some sort of wrath from God, others thought that this was a new supervirus that was going to destroy the whole world, that this was the beginning of the end.  
"They're saying that..." Risto began, "They're saying so many different things. But there's one thing they agree on. The virus has started killing people here. They are all very young too, all under 20 years old."  
"Damn," Vlatko said, "That's horrible."  
Vlatko stood up and went over to look at the laptop screen too.  
"It's starting to make the international news now, too," Risto said, scrolling through yet more pages. A google search for 'Macedonia virus' was bringing up a ton of hits. Before today, no news about the virus had existed in English. Now there was a lot. This really wasn't looking good at all.


	4. Chapter 4

It had now been a week since the Eurovision final. Macedonia's non-qualification was a distant memory, now MRT were concentrating on what they would do for next year's contest. It was time for the 2018 Eurovision entrants to return to their home countries. The members of Eye Cue were in the airport in Lisbon, Bojan dragging all the suitcases behind him while Marija and Ivo skipped on ahead.  
"Guys, guys," Bojan panted, clearly having difficulty with the baggage, "Can you please help me carry some of these? Why do I have to do all the work?"  
Marija and Ivo pretended that they didn't hear that, and carried on ahead. An airport worker greeted them.  
"Hey, now where are you three headed?" the airport worker smiled at them.  
"Macedonia," Ivo said.  
The airport worker looked surprised at that, and her smile faded.  
"Macedonia?" came the reply, "Are you sure? You do know about... the virus that's there, don't you?"  
They had heard the news about the virus, but they assumed it was just being exaggerated for effect. After all, it was typical of the media to hype up some virus year after year as a potential pandemic, which would then go on to not do anything. They assumed this was just more of the same. Besides, Macedonia was their home, where else could they go? They certainly couldn't hang around Lisbon forever, the Eurovision Song Contest was over already. It had been fun, but Portugal didn't need them here anymore. Now it was time for them to return to Macedonia.  
"What's the problem? The flights are still running to Macedonia, aren't they?" Bojan said, still dragging the suitcases along with him, "So it can't be that bad."  
"Well, I guess so but-" the airport worker began.  
"Hey," Bojan replied, "The customer is always right, remember?"  
"I remember," the airport worker sighed, before begrudgingly letting Eye Cue through. That was it, Eye Cue were finally returning home. They had enjoyed their stay in Lisbon, but it just felt right to go back to Macedonia. After all, it was their home, they missed it. They didn't realise just how bad things there were about to get.


	5. Chapter 5

Kaliopi's fingers tapped the keys of the piano, playing with ease as she sat in the bar. Lozano walked over to her.  
"You're good at that," Lozano said, "I didn't know you could play."  
"Oh, hey Lozano," Kaliopi smiled, "Thank you. I didn't know you came to this bar."  
"I don't come here that much," Lozano said, "I'd like to hang around here more often, but I'm just too busy."  
"Ah, yeah, I understand," Kaliopi said. She knew exactly how hectic things could get in the Macedonian music industry.  
At the moment, the two of them were interrupted by a teenager walking over to them. He looked very young, but he seemed to recognize Kaliopi right away. Kaliopi was happy that her music was clearly reaching the next generation of listeners.  
"Hey, Kaliopi," said the kid, "I'm a big fan! Please can I have your autograph?"  
"Of course you can," Kaliopi smiled, before turning to Lozano and saying, "Notice how he asked for my autograph, and not yours."  
Lozano didn't reply to that, but shot an angry look at Kaliopi.  
"Oh," the kid said, "Sorry. Hey, Mr. Lozanoski, may I have your autograph as well?"  
"Of course kid," Lozano grinned, "I'll be happy to. So, who are we signing this to? What's your name?"  
"My name is Denis, I'm 16," the kid smiled, swaying a little uneasily on his feet. He looked a little unwell, but that wasn't unusual. Lots of people seemed to be unwell in Macedonia lately. The strange thing was, all the unwell people seemed to be young. Usually it was the other way around, with older people being more affected by such things, but not this time.  
"Denis," Kaliopi said, "That's a nice name. Say, Denis, are you feeling ok?"  
"I'll be fine, thank you," Denis said, pulling a pen and a piece of paper out of his pocket, his hands shaking. Kaliopi and Lozano hoped that he was just shaking because he was nervous, after all, he was meeting two of Macedonia's biggest popstars. They hoped that it was nothing to do with this new mysterious illness. Denis stumbled as he went to hand the paper to Kaliopi.  
"Are you sure you're ok?" Kaliopi said.  
"I can't... I can't..." Denis didn't finish his sentence, he fell silent as he dropped to the ground.  
"Somebody call an ambulance!" Kaliopi screamed over the chatter of the crowd.  
"I'll get it," Lozano said, frantically grabbing his mobile phone from his pocket and dialing the number for an ambulance.  
The crowd in the bar had stopped talking, they all turned to look at the scene.  
"Don't just stand there!" Kaliopi yelled, "Help us, please!"  
The next few moments were a blur, it felt like an eternity before the ambulance crew arrived. The people in the bar watched as the ambulance crew rushed into the bar and picked Denis up, putting him onto a stretcher. Denis had woken up by now, and he was screaming the entire time the ambulance crew were there. This was awful. As he was carried away, Kaliopi saw the people in the bar going back to chatting, going back to their drinks. Back to normality, back to ignoring the virus. That angered her, hadn't they seen what had just happened? Still, there wasn't any time to be angry now, and there certainly wasn't any time to confront them, right now she just wanted to make sure that the kid would be alright.  
Kaliopi and Lozano both walked out of the bar and watched the ambulance drive off in silence. The ambulance crew wouldn't let Kaliopi or Lozano go with him, after all, they were not family members, nor did they know him. They were just concerned bystanders. But they did want to make sure that he would be ok. They looked on as the ambulance drove off into the distance. For some reason, police officers had turned up as well, and they were now scouring the bar, although Kaliopi was unsure what they were looking for.  
"We should have gone with Denis," Kaliopi said to one of the officers who was still at the scene, "We should still go, go to the hospital with him, make sure he's alright."  
The police officer looked shocked at this.  
"Mrs. Bukle," the officer said rather formally, "I regret to inform you that he's... he's gone. It's that virus... it's too... we don't know how to stop it. It's been killing people all over Macedonia. We can't stop it."  
"What?" Kaliopi yelled, in shock. Kaliopi tried to hold back the tears. Lozano just hugged her and didn't say anything. There was just silence. Neither of them had anything to say now. There was only sadness.


	6. Chapter 6

A few days later the real toll of the damage had become clear. What everyone thought had been confirmed, that the virus was only working on people under the age of twenty. There was only a few people younger than 20 left. Parents who were lucky enough to still have their children hugged them a little closer now, but in a few days, they would be gone too. It was official. The virus had killed everyone in Macedonia who was under the age of 20. Anyone who's 20th birthday had been the before the 12th May 2018 was safe, everyone else... they had been killed by the virus. Macedonia fell into chaos and disorder. There was no way such a small nation could handle something on this scale.  
International help was not forthcoming. The countries that bordered Macedonia were worried for their own safety. Would the virus spread to them next? The rest of the world was concerned too. What if it spread around the entire world? The virus would have serious consequences anywhere that it affected.  
America wasn't going to take any chances. The US government sent troops to Macedonia. Not to help, but to contain. American soldiers closed off all Macedonian borders, and American president Donald Trump said that anyone caught trying to leave Macedonia would be shot. It was official. The world had abandoned Macedonia.  
Eye Cue had barely gotten back into the country before the borders had been closed. They soon regretted it. They wished they had just stayed in Lisbon. But it was too late for that now.  
Nobody knew what to do. Chaos ruled the streets and anarchy reigned in Macedonia. Fear and panic swept the tiny Balkan nation. Despite all that they tried to do to calm Macedonia, nothing worked and Macedonia's government collapsed.  
The virus had destroyed the very foundations of the nation. Now without a government, Macedonia was left without any real leadership. The chaos that ensued was probably how Vlado Janevski became the new ruler of Macedonia. His speeches, his promises. The Macedonian people saw him as their new hope, and he quickly became the new ruler.  
But not everything is as it seems. Vlado Janevski took control of everything in Macedonia. It seemed like there was no hope left. The virus had killed everyone under the age of twenty, and now, Vlado Janevski had emerged, not as a benevolent ruler, but as a vengeful dictator.  
And yet there were still those who had the courage to fight back. Those who wanted a better future, a better Macedonia. The Macedonian resistance, lead by Darko Dimitrov, started a campaign against the Janevski dictatorship. Dimitrov and his followers were being hunted by Janevski's soldiers, but they hadn't found any of them yet. This was quickly becoming a game of cat and mouse, a guerrilla war in a nation that just couldn't take any more. It seemed that the country was doomed. Without the next generation, there was no future for Macedonia anymore. And they couldn't take a dictatorship on top of that, not to mention the battle between the dictatorship and the resistance group.


	7. Chapter 7

It started out as just a day like any other. Vlado Janevski standing there on his podium, giving another speech to the people, promising that a cure for the virus would be found soon and the quarantine zone around Macedonia would then come down. Some believed him. Most didn't.  
But this day was different. A mysterious figure was hanging around in the shadows. Jana Burčeska. She was a member of Darko Dimitrov's resistance, and now was her chance to take out Macedonia's new dictator once and for all. She looked down at the device in her hands, and with all her strength, she flung it towards the dictator. With a mighty boom the device exploded, sending dust flying everywhere, covering the floor of the podium. She couldn't see if she had completed her task.  
When the dust cleared, Vlado Janevski was still standing there, unscathed. Jana had missed her mark. She cursed herself. Had all her training been for nothing?  
She should have ran when the dust had covered everything, but she wanted to see it for herself. Now that she had failed she was in serious danger. Vlado turned around and, for a brief few seconds, her eyes met his. She saw a hatred in his eyes that she had never seen before, but also, a hint of fear. And then, she ran.  
Jana ran through the narrow streets, past the rows of houses, past the people just going about their daily business. She ran and ran and ran until she could run no more. She turned around, breathless, half expecting someone to be following her, but there was no one. The attack hadn't worked, but she had been lucky. She hadn't been caught, and that meant there was always next time.   
Jana returned to the base, and sat with the other members of the resistance. She was disappointed in herself, after all, she had failed, hadn't she? But the others were proud of her. She had gotten closer to their goal than any of the others had. She had done more for the resistance than many had even dreamed of. And more importantly, she showed the people of Macedonia that there was still hope. There was still a chance. They could still beat the dictatorship.  
Jana shuffled in her seat. She looked over at Next Time, who were both whispering to each other about something. They were the newest members of the resistance movement.  
Then, all talking in the room stopped. Their leader, Darko Dimitrov, would be making his speech soon. Silence desended on the room as Darko walked in. Darko smiled, it was clear he was pleased with today's events.   
"I know," Darko began his speech in his usual cheery tone, "That we weren't successful today. It's too bad, we were so close. But we'll get him. We're getting closer all the time. Janevski can't be lucky forever."  
That was true at least. Jana hoped that they could succeed soon, and that Dimitrov's resistance could remove Macedonia's dictatorship and get the country back on some sort of path to normal. But part of her knew she was kidding herself. Part of her knew that Macedonia could never hope to be normal again. She tried to ignore that part.


	8. Chapter 8

Risto and Vlatko were sitting in that internet cafe again. They were supposed to be discussing new music, just like last time, but with the situation being what it was, of course their minds turned to other things.  
The atmosphere in Macedonia was so different now. Ever since Macedonia had been quarantined, the internet had been restricted there. But Risto worked for Janevski's government personally, and so he was allowed internet access. And since Vlatko was friends with Risto, he could get internet access as well. Most people in Macedonia weren't so lucky.  
Risto was tapping on his laptop again, scrolling through the news articles.  
"Hey, whatever you do, don't say anything bad about Vlado's song," Risto reminded Vlatko.  
"I know," Vlatko replied, "I would never do that, anyway."  
"Good," Risto said, "You know what the reports have said."  
"Yeah, I saw."  
Reports had been coming in about people being arrested across Macedonia. People who said bad things about Vlado Janevski's dictatorship, and even people who said bad things about Vlado's 1998 Eurovision entry 'Ne zori, zoro' were being arrested and taken away by the Janevski government.  
"So, when do you think this will all be over?" Vlatko asked, "When do you think things will be back to normal here?"  
Risto sighed. Vlatko was so hopeful, as usual.  
"Honestly Vlatko?" Risto said, "Never."  
Risto regretting being so honest when he saw the look on Vlatko's face.  
"N-never?" Vlatko asked, "No, I'm sure there's a way to fix this. A way for the virus to be cured, a way for the quarantine to come down..."  
Risto just continued looking at the screen. A little hope wasn't a bad thing. But Risto just didn't see how Macedonia could ever go back to being a normal country. Not after this.  
"Vlatko," Risto said, "I just hope you're right."


End file.
